Photographer and electronic musician Robert Pluma has shared with us some tantalizing photos he shot at the “Future of Music” talk at last week’s Moogfest, including some shots of what appears to be a new Teenage Engineering synth, the PO-12.

Robert shares, “I wasn’t taking notes so I would suggest confirming details with TE, but from what I recall it … has a spring-loaded stand which doubles as a pitch bender when pressure is applied, includes 23 switches and two knobs (not sure if they’re rotary encoders or potentiometers), and has a built-in hang tab for retail display.”

Additional details, per Pluma:

Teenage Engineering had intended to give these away at Moogfest, but all but the one seen in the photos were delayed by customs

Integrated hang-tag says ‘moogfest special’ on this unit, and presumably on giveaway units

Not sure of exact dimensions, but appears to be the same size as the area to the left of the screen on the OP-1

Retail price will be (I think they said) $49 US

Uncertain of this [detail], but I think it was an initial run of 200 for Moogfest

Monday Morning Update: We asked for confirmation of these details from Teenage Engineering, and here’s what they said:

“[Robert] more or less nailed it regarding the details for this product, but we’re not going to confirm or deny anything at this point. The image at CDM is official… We’re looking forward to keeping you in the loop as the project takes shape.”

It’s a drum machine with parameter lock (like the Elektron Machinedrum, which Jesper Kouthoofd of TE worked on). This is just speculation, but since some of the switches are labeled 1-16, I imagine it has up to sixteen steps, and with the parameter lock you should be able to adjust settings for each step with the two knobs and other tact switches.

I’d love to see an external expander version of the OP-1 synths. It would be about the size of this gizmo – and they have some great sound creation technology including physically modelled strings, FM etc.